Know what Steam has been missing? That’s right, a virtual trading card system! Wait … were you not going to say that? Well, no matter, because that’s what Valve is introducing to the service.
This frighteningly meta system will reward “gamers for gaming,” and effectively seems to give you game-specific virtual trading cards that can be collected and then cashed in for, er, game badges, profile backgrounds and (hey, something actually useful) sale coupons. You’ll also earn ‘experience points’ and increase your ‘Steam level.’ Whether you like it or not.
Right now the system is confined to Steam’s beta client and only involves the following games: Team Fortress 2 (of course), Dota 2 (of courser), Portal 2, Counter-Strike Global Offensive, Half-Life 2 and Don’t Starve.
However, Valve is promising/threatening that this system will ultimately expand to include a whole lot more Steam titles.
But where, you may ask, can you learn more about such a thing? Right here man, right here.